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Anyone looking for Panasonic's Eluga smartphone in a shop in Britain may well be disappointed. The company looks likely to abandon its mass market ambitionsKoji Sasahara/AP Photo

Nic Fildes

Last updated at 12:01AM, August 13 2012

The Eluga phone is both waterproof and dustproof but it may never see the
light of day in Britain after Panasonic hit the reset button on its
smartphone strategy.

The Japanese consumer electronics group will decide by the end of the month
whether it has the stomach for an expensive fight for a share of the
smartphone sector, where it would go head-to-head with the heavyweights
Apple and Samsung.

The company has launched a formal review of its plans and looks likely to
abandon its mass market ambitions in favour of a range of devices
tailor-made for certain industries.